On June 11, 2007, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg presented the second annual "Made in NY" Awards to six individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the City's entertainment industry at a ceremony in Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal. Actress and producer Tina Fey of NBC's "30 Rock," commercial directorKevin Breslin, HDNet co-founders Joana Vicente and Jason Kliot and The New Victory Theater were honored during the ceremony. In addition, as part of the ongoing efforts of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB) to increase diversity in the entertainment industry, the Mayor presented the inaugural Diversity Award to Black Filmmaker Foundation President Warrington Hudlin. The award was developed to honor one person every year who has made significant contributions to increase diversity in the local entertainment industry. The Mayor was joined by Film, Theatre and Broadcasting Commissioner Katherine Oliver.

The “Made in NY” Awards ceremony was held inside Vanderbilt Hall where Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Time Warner Cable are displaying the exhibit “Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies.” Celluloid Skyline, a free, four-week exhibit based on James Sanders’ award-winning book of the same name, combines immense urban views with digitally projected film clips and dramatic enlargements of more than 160 rare and unusual production photographs. The imaginative displays capture the epic relationship between the real New York and its cinematic portrayal over the decades. The current CELLULOID exhibit will run through June and will be shown on TCM and TCM On Demand throughout the month. The Akua Dixon String Quartet, representing the Associate Musicians of Greater New York Local 802, played music from New York-themed films during the ceremony.

Honoree

Tina Fey

Tina Fey wrote, executive-produced, and starred as Liz Lemon in NBC’s “30 Rock.” Prior to creating “30 Rock,” Fey completed six seasons as head writer, cast member and co-anchor of the “Weekend Update” segment on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Fey won numerous Emmy awards and has been named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainers of the Year, one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People, and one of Time Magazine’s prestigious Time 100. She expanded to feature films in 2004, writing and starring in the hit comedy Mean Girls, which earned her a nomination for a Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She also starred in Baby Mama and Date Night.

Kevin Breslin's first short film, A Smile Gone, but Where?,was shown at film festivals throughout the world. It premiered on the Oxygen Network along with Mr. Breslin's second short film, Women of Rockaway, which won The Gracie Award for best TV documentary. Breslin, who filmed the “Made in NY” campaign along with producers Jason Goldman and Ko Niizuma, is a director with Maysles Films in New York. In addition to filming Heartbreakers for the Oxygen Network, Breslin’s recent commercials include The Boys and Girls Club of America with Bill Clinton, the Chevy Silverado “This is Our Country” campaign, IBM, Hellmann's Mayonnaise, Mercedes-Benz, and the Hard Rock Brand.

Warrington Hudlin is one of the founders of the Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF), a not-for-profit organization that has played a pivotal role in the emergence of the contemporary black film movement. Hudlin is also a founding member of the Media Coalition of Artist of Color, which organizes a monthly networking meeting in New York City to connect film and TV executives from major media companies with media arts organizations that serve communities of color. For the last ten years, with the generous support of HBO, Hudlin has organized the BFF Summit, where the top 100 most influential African Americans, Asians, and Latinos meet the leaders of the film and television industry in a closed-door industry retreat. Hudlin created the BFF Lab, which became the model for similar labs that Hudlin designed and administered as part of diversity initiatives at MTV Networks. Hudlin is a member of the Nielsen Media Research African American Advisory Council and serves on the NYC Task Force on Diversity in Film, Television, and Commercial Production.

Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente are co-presidents of HDNet Films, Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner’s newly formed high-definition production company that produces features and documentaries, shot with High Definition digital cameras. HDNet work is distributed worldwide through Magnolia Pictures, Landmark Theaters, HDNet Movies, Magnolia Home Entertainment and HDNet Films International. With HDNet Films, Kliot and Vicente are in various stages of production with 20 films. Kliot and Vincente also co-founded the production company Open City Films 12 in 2006.

New Victory Theater was re-dedicated in 1995 as New York’s oldest active theater – marking a new era for 42nd Street in Times Square. Built for the legitimate theater in 1900 by Oscar Hammerstein as the Theatre Republic, it helped establish 42nd Street as the city’s new theater district. In his own words, Hammerstein described it as the “perfect parlor theater...a drawing room of the drama dedicated to all that is best in dramatic and lyric art.”